CD Reviews (The Straits Times, July 2016)

ENCORES

DENIS MATSUEV, Piano

Sony Music  88875189262 / *****

Everybody loves encores, those tasty little morsels of music performed at the end of a formal programme in concert, or recital in the case of soloists. Often spontaneous and unannounced, these come as delightful surprises, which sweeten the deal and sends everyone home happy. Russian virtuoso Denis Matsuev has more than several up his sleeve, and his anthology has a decidedly Slavic slant.

Those who attended his concert with the London Symphony Orchestra at Esplanade in 2014 will remember Anatol Liadov's delicate Musical Snuffbox, contrasted with the Grigory Ginzburg's manically charged transcription of Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt.

Those were the “easier” ones, compared with Vladimir Horowitz's Carmen Variations or Rossini's Largo al factotum from The Barber of Seville (Ginzburg again). Of a less frenzied variety are a selection from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons (the popular Barcarolle and Autumn Song among these) Rachmaninov's Préludes and Études-Tableaux. A true rarity is Rachmaninov's extroverted Fugue in D minor, written as a teenager. 

In Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.2, Matsuev elects to play his own cadenza, a jazz improvisation in the truest sense, after which one will leap from the seat and shout “Bravo!”   

TANGO IN BLUE

Barcelona and Catalonia Symphony / Jose Serebrier

BIS 1175 / *****

Whoever would have thought that the sultry tango, once the dance of bordellos, would some day be elevated to that of a concert hall classic? It took several decades and the efforts of one Argentine Astor Piazzolla to bring that kind of respectability. 

He gets pride of place with the popular Oblivion and Tangazo, this anthology's longest piece, which builds from Bachian slow boil to toe-tapping rhythmic climax. Uruguay-born conductor Jose Serebrier, also a composer of repute, adds his own Tango in Blue and Casi un Tango with cor anglais solo, both receiving World Premiere recordings.

Serebrier's wife soprano Carole Farley joins in with Kurt Weill's Matrosen-Tango (Sailor's Song) from Happy End and the tango-habanera Youkali, which ooze sensual appeal on every turn. There are also contributions to the form by Igor Stravinsky, Samuel Barber, Erik Satie and Morton Gould, all of which are very different in many ways. 

Danish composer Jacob Gade's Tango Jalousie is an acknowledged classic and the album closes with Gerardo Matos Rodriguez's La Cumparsita. The Symphony Orchestra of Barcelona and Catalonia have this elusive idiom in their blood, and the flavour is infectious.

SSO CONCERT: ROMEO AND JULIET. RACHMANINOV' CONCERTO NO.2 / Review

ROMEO AND JULIET.

RACHMANINOV PIANO CONCERTO NO.2

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Saturday (23 July 2016)

The last time veteran Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev played the Rachmaninov Second Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra several years ago, I thought he sounded tired, and tired or even bored of the oft-performed warhorse. This time around, I am happy to report that some sort of rejuvenation had taken place.  

Not only did he sound more energised, there seemed to be more of an effort to make the piano sound out above the orchestral throng. The solo opening chords were taken at a true Moderato, as indicated by the composer and as the orchestra launched into the 1^st movement's big melody, Alexeev made sure that every note of his – even if it was accompaniment to one of Rachmaninov's most melancholic tunes – was clearly heard. We know he can barnstorm like the best of young pianists, but it is his discretion and restraint in less frenzied parts -  a true test of nobility -  that stood out. The horn solo after the chordal climax from Jamie Hersch was perfectly controlled, and that added to the classiness of the performance.

In the slow movement, Evgueni Brokmiller's flute and Li Xin's clarinet were excellent, setting the mood for the piano's wallow that built up to an ecstatic high culminating with Alexeev's cadenza that stretched the full length of the keyboard. The resultant big string tune at the end, accompanied by the piano's right hand chords and left hand arpeggios capped the movement's love music. If this entire episode is not about the act of love-making set to music, then I do not know anything about music.

The finale had a bit of the rough and ready, but that did not diminish the excitement of more big tunes and more big climaxes which both pianist and orchestra did well to sustain to its spectacular end. Alexeev's little encore was a welcome break from the virtuosic fare, a Chopinesque mazurka in F minor.

The rest of the concert comprised music by Berlioz on this year's Shakespeare theme. Conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier, the SSO opened with the Overture to Beatrice et Benedict, showcasing a very refined string sound that revelled in the high registers, the sort one does not get to hear too often. This delicacy of playing continued into the second half's orchestral excerpts from the symphonie lyrique Romeo et Juliette.  The supposedly impossible-to-play (in Berlioz's time) Queen Mab Scherzo was made to sound easy by the orchestra, with excellent winds gliding over the most luscious string textures thought possible.

The Love Scene, with shades of dissonances that look forward to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, was also beautifully judged, building to yearning climaxes (but not of Rachmaninov's orgasmic variety) with little exertion or effort. Tortelier conducted the entire second half from memory, and the Festival Music of the Capulets, now with the brass joining in full voice, closed the concert on a high. This evening's fare showed that the orchestra was totally capable of playing with restraint, tonal variety and colour, and that is something to be proud of.  

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, July 2016)

STORYTELLERS ON ANN SIANG ROAD

Ding Yi Music Company / Tay Teow Kiat

Long Yin / ****1/2

Ding Yi Music Company is Singapore's most active professional Chinese chamber ensemble, and its concert programming over the years has been both eclectic and innovative, as its latest album testifies. In a way, the course of contemporary Chinese instrumental music has been redefined by the encompassing of Nanyang music, which includes indigenous idioms of Southeast Asian music and its composers. Two excellent examples receive world premiere recordings here.

Bho Shambo is a dance of the Hindu god Shiva, and in Phang Kok Jun's arrangement, flautists Ghanavenothan Rethnam (bansuri) and Tan Qing Lun (dizi) share the honours in a headily rhythmic work that includes chanting in Tamil. A similar tandem operates in Phang's own Storytellers On Ann Siang Road where Chin Yen Choong and Lim Kwuan Boon's erhus act out a duet-cum-duet between Chinese and Malay itinerant storytellers of old.

The balance of the disc are five Chinese works by Liu Chang, Chow Jun Yi, Joshua Chan, Cao Wen Gong  and Wang Jian Min. Conducted by its founder, Cultural Medallion recipient Tay Teow Kiat, the playing is both refined and virtuosic, and more importantly passionately charged as only young professional musicians know how. 

SIBELIUS & GLAZUNOV Violin Concertos

ESTHER YOO, Violin

Philharmonia Orchestra

Vladimir Ashkenazy (Conductor)

Deutsche Grammophon 481 215 7 / ****1/2

In 2010, the 16-year-old Korean American violinist Esther Yoo was awarded First Prize at the 10^th Sibelius International Violin Competition, the youngest-ever to be bestowed that accolade. Her debut recording of violin concertos by the Finn Jean Sibelius and Russian Alexander Glazunov commemorates the 150^th anniversary of both composers' births in 1865. Despite her youth, the technical and interpretive demands of both concertos hold no terrors for Yoo.

She brings out a warm and gorgeous tone for the lyrical Glazunov concerto, only letting rip in its festive end. For the more austere and glacial disposition of the Sibelius concerto, she offers more grit and sinew to the proceedings, holding little back in the so-called “Polonaise for polar bears” of a finale. 

The fillers are pretty enough: Sibelius' youthful Suite For Violin And Strings and Glazunov's Grand Adagio from his ballet Raymonda. The support she gets from veteran conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy and from the London-based Philharmonia Orchestra is excellent, in what can be said to be a dream debut.   

EXUBERANCE OF YOUTH / Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra / Review

EXUBERANCE OF YOUTH

Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra

Singapore Conference Hall

Saturday (16 July 2016)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 July 2016 with the title "Impressive youth performance".

If one needed to gauge the level in which Singaporean youths applied themselves to the arts, there are worse ways than to attend a Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra (SYCO) concert. Led by its Music Director Quek Ling Kiong, the standard displayed by players ranging from 11 to 26 years of age impressed, and the show of commitment was staggering. 

This sense of frisson was immediately felt in Kuan Nai-chung's The Sun, the rousing 1^st movement from Millennium Of The Dragon Year. Beginning with a fanfare for suonas, solo percussionists Lim Rei and Nicholas Teo commanded the stage, hammering out rhythms on timpanis and a variety of drums. There were also quieter and lyrical moments when marimba and slung gongs were employed, culminating in a fugue for strings before a dramatic and rowdy finish.

The massed sound of suonas, woodwinds and strings created a festive atmosphere in young Taiwanese composer Wang I-Yu's Impressions On Bei Guan, a fantasy on a theme associated with the lunar new year. The Bei Guan, or northern reed, refers to suona music in all its guises, whether heard as a plaintive solo, an off-stage presence or a stentorian chorus ringing out loud and true at its climax. 

Princess Wencheng, written by a committee of three composers, was a virtuoso sheng concerto showcasing the clear and incisive tones of soloist Zhou Zhixuan. The work celebrated the union of Tang dynasty princess to Tibetan monarch Songtsen Gampo, but its music featured only one phrase simulating the Tibetan long horn. The eventful work which touted “friendly and cooperative relationship” between Han Chinese and Tibetans came across more like propaganda, a cover-up for brutal occupation of a sovereign state.

Almost as jingoistic was Liu Wen Jin's Brave Spirits Of The Slow Mountain featuring erhu soloist Low Likie who was equal to its technical and rhapsodic demands Here its three continuous movements commemorated the 70^th anniversary of the Red Army's Long March, with musical references to the struggle, suffering and sacrifice of comrades through a procession of martial and heroic strains. 

Far more succinct was talented young Singaporean composer Benjamin Fung Chuntung's Variations On A Hainanese Folk Song, which conjured a pastoral air over which Zhe Gu Ti, a birdsong inspired theme, was heard on solo suona and later dizi. With further development, this could become a substantial work like Kodaly's Peacock Variations.

Closing the concert was Law Wai Lun's classic of Nanyang music, Prince Sang Nila Utama and Singa, based on the legends of Temasek. Indo-Malayan scales and themes were created for this lush tropical sea piece which at times hinted of Ravel's ballet Daphnis et Chloe. The orchestra cooked up a storm, placated by the Prince's relinquishing of his head-piece, and the sighting of the mythical lion closed the work on a raucous high.

For the encore, Guest-of-Honour Baey Yam Keng (Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth) was invited as guest percussionist for Ary Barroso's Aquarela do Brasil, which prompted a free-for-all on stage as the orchestra headily greeted the Rio Olympic Games to come.

SSO CONCERT: ROMEO AND JULIET / CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTO NO.1 / Review

ROMEO AND JULIET

CHOPIN PIANO CONCERTO NO.1

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Friday (15 July 2015)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 18 July 2016 with the title "A night of Chopin and Shakespeare".

It is a given that any recent winner of the Chopin International Piano Concerto in Warsaw be invited to perform one of Frederic Chopin's two piano concertos. So it was with Russian pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, 1^st prize winner of the 2010 edition, to do the honours in the First Piano Concerto in E minor (Op.11).

Hers was not a typically barnstorming performance, but one more attuned to the poetic and cantabile aspects of the music. She waited patiently as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Music Director Shui Lan concluded the long orchestral tutti before entering in a flourish of chords and octaves. This was the full extent of the bluster as she nimbly treaded through the 1^st movement's fine minutiae. While the development was exciting, the foremost musical impulses were never lost.

The nocturne-like Romanze, accompanied by lovely hushed strings, came through like a dream and crystalline passages towards the end provided the most sublime moments of the concert. In the rollicking finale's Polish dance, there was no racing headlong into the fray. Even a small stumble towards the end did little to diminish the grace of this sensitive and finely-honed reading. Avdeeeva's encore of the posthumous Nocturne in C sharp minor provided more of the same beauty, and was warmly applauded.

The concert's hour-long first half began with Bedrich Smetana's The Moldau from Ma Vlast (My Country), a programmatic tone poem on Bohemia's most fabled river. Opening with fluent flutes accompanied by string pizzicatos, the course of the waterway from brooklets and streams to the pride of Prague was a picturesque journey as the music unfolded.

Hushed strings in the “dream sequence” with play of water nymphs made for a delightful diversion. The final statement of the work's big tune based on Slavic folk music (from which the Israeli national anthem Hatikvah was also derived), with brass and percussion in full throttle completed the rousing curtain-raiser.

A much shorter second half comprised seven scenes from Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo And Juliet, part of the orchestra's commemoration of William Shakespeare's 400^th death anniversary. The piquancy of the Russian's music, extreme dissonance contrasted with flowing lyricism, was no better heard in Montagues and Capulets. A loud percussive crash dissolved into the unison song of strings, before the feuding families of Verona went about their violent business.

The evocative scoring gave unusual instruments like the saxophone (played by Tang Xiao Ping) and celesta (Shane Thio) moments to shine, and there were juicy solos for cellist Ng Pei Sian (The Young Juliet), violist Zhang Manchin and clarinettist Ma Yue (Romeo & Juliet Before Parting) and concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich (Dance of the Antilles Maidens).

Strings expressed anguish like no other in Romeo At Juliet's Tomb and bounded with utmost vehemence for Mercutio's music in Tybalt's Death, the final number. The pieces were not performed in the actual sequence of the story but otherwise made musical sense as the tension and stridency built up to a cathartic close.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, July 2016)

LISZT Works for Two Pianos

Piano Duo Genova & Dimitrov

CPO 777 896-2 / ****1/2

The complete solo piano works of Franz Liszt (1811-1886) have been recorded by Leslie Howard, however what is left are his works for piano 4 hands and two pianos. These are rightly considered obscure because of the paucity of concert performances. 

The excellent Bulgarian duo of Aglika Genova and Liuben Dimitrov serves up five tasty pieces, beginning with the Grand Concert Piece on Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, an oversized elaboration stringing together three miniatures. This is a musical case of making a mountain out of a molehill, but fun nonetheless.

Liszt's operatic conflations, the Reminiscences De Norma (after Bellini) and Reminiscences De Don Juan (after Mozart) are well-known in their piano solo versions. Heard on two pianos, the element of derring-do and risk is diminished on the performers’ parts but are nonetheless exciting. 

The best work is Concerto Pathetique, based on the Grosses Konzertsolo and employing the art of thematic transformation to be found in Liszt's symphonic poems and Sonata in B minor. Completing the album is the Hexameron, a fantastical set of variations on a Bellini theme with contributions from six different composers. This edition is shorter than the solo version, but still worth a listen for its share of high jinks.

CHOPIN Ballades

YUNDI, Piano

Deutsche Grammophon 481 2443 / ****

Frederic Chopin's Four Ballades for piano are four of the Polish-born composer's most exquisite single movement essays, filled with passion, longing and fantasy. However these are more associated with literary rather than musical sources, with the musings of Adam Mickiwiecz, regarded as Poland's national poet, cited as major inspirations. 

The Ballades get what one expects from Li Yundi, who takes a more tempered approach than his rival Lang Lang, without the agogic distortions and deliberately ear-catching exaggerations experienced in concert.

His playing is polished, tasteful, and not without moments of aural beauty. Of the four, the Second Ballade Op.38, with its alternating calm and violence, gets the most satisfying performance. By mostly sticking to the middle of the road, he does not add much more to what regular listeners know about Chopin. 

It is the fillers which hold greater interest. The Berceuse Op.57 is a model of elegant poise, and Yundi fares best in the Four Mazurkas Op.17, where he is one with Chopin's rhythmic subtlety and aching nostalgia.

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2016 / Preliminary Round Two, Day Three

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO 

COMPETITION OF AUSTRALIA 2016

Preliminaries Round 2

Monday 11 July 2016 (12.30 pm)

EDWARD NEEMAN (Australia, 32 years) appears to have a better second round, opening with Mendessohn's Fantasy in F sharp minor (Op.28), sometimes referred to as his Scottish Sonata. There is a good mix of sensitive playing and prestidigitation, as expected from the German, before taking an interlude with Chopin's Mazurka in C sharp minor (Op.63 No.3), crafted with lilting charm. Then its all set for Scriabin's Fifth Sonata, his “Poem of Ecstasy” on the piano. As with the earlier pieces, there is lots of over-pedalling which results in blurring of passages, while concealing  some missed notes.

The major contribution of WANG YINFEI (China, 30 years) is Beethoven's final Sonata No.32 in C minor (Op.111), which received an assured performance, despite missed notes in the first movement. At least he understands Beethoven's passion and concept of “brio”. The Arietta theme and variations in the second movement are beautifully negotiated, and that “jazzy” or “ragtime” variation gets the syncopated attention it deserves. Vine's Toccatissimo sounds over-pedalled in the beginning but gets better later. But will this be enough for him? 

YUI FUSHIKI (Japan, 25 years) has been my preferred pianist of this session, and continued to impress with Haydn's Sonata No.34 in E minor, with some drama and humour to equal degree in the first movement, elegance and clear lines in the slow movement and a chirpy, cheery finale to close.  Completely different is a rare hearing of Bartok's Dance Suite in his original piano transcription. Forget Franz Liszt, as this is a true Hungarian rhapsody with its multiple linked movements played with clear, incisive accents, with requisite colour and texture, through its journey of dissonance and pentatonics to a brilliant end. The opulence of an orchestra is not relived, but she got the spirit right.

LUU QUANG HONG (Vietnam, 25 years) is the only pianist to offer all five of Carl Vine's Bagatelles. These are perfect miniatures, like a suite, which got the varied and nuanced playing they deserved. The final Threnody never fails to touch, with its beguiling melody and sheer simplicity. Following that were the strident octave tritones of Liszt's Dante Sonata, arrestingly announced in a performance of sufficient contrasts. There was a minor stumble, and despite that, got his message across loud and clear. A stronger second round that may have come a little too late.

Monday 11 July 2016 (3.30 pm)

CHEN MOYE (China, 32 years) is another dark horse in this competition. As to the question whether Xie Ming's account of Percy Grainger's Ramble on Love from Der Rosenkavalier could be bettered, Chen provided that answer with an equally impressive performance of warm and generous tones, if not quite approximating the former's sensuousness. Chen however swept the board with Rachmaninov's Second Sonata in Vladimir Horowitz's version that combines both 1913 and 1931 editions. Its a slightly longer work than those offered earlier, and in certain ways better being more fleshed out. Unlike Horowitz's volatile and often jerky live performances, Chen is polished to a fine sheen but still possessing that always nervy edge that is simply thrilling. He will go through.

KONG JIANING (China, 30 years) is likely to join him with his 30 minutes of short pieces. First off were two Scarlatti Sonatas (K.454 and 455), both in G major and played fast with staccatos as the main emphasis. The twins were very well played, yet having a character and personality of their own. Just as impressive was Kong's traversal of 11 Etudes from Op.25 by Chopin. To fit the playing time, the slow C sharp minor Etude (No.7) was omitted. So we got to hear all the fast ones, each delicately yet prodigiously crafted. Special place go to the fearsome G sharp minor (No.6) in triplets, B minor (No.10) for bilateral octaves and A minor (No.11), the blustery “Winter Wind” which was breathtaking to say the least.

FANTEE JONES (USA, 22 years) provided an element of surprise by programming two Chopin Waltzes, the slow and nostalgic F minor (Op.70 No.2) contrasted with the vertiginous F major (Op.34 No.3) which were played much charm. The dance thread continued into Schumann's Carnaval Op.9, with its short Scenes Mignonettes involving characters of commedia delle arte and Schumann's own League of David, a number of which included waltzes. Her playing is of lusty immediacy which worked well with in louder Florestan pieces, but tends to get clattery with the virtuosic ones like and Reconnaissance and Paganini. Curiously she follows Rachmaninov's example by including the enigmatic Sphinxes, a mere sequence of bare notes based on the motto theme. Practically nobody else does that.

TONY LEE (Australia, 24 years) gave a very lucid account of Cesar Franck's Prelude, Choral et Fugue, a dead serious work that tends to get dragged down by its own seriousness and weight. Thankfully, he does none of that and his reading gets more and more engaging as the fugue progressed to its finality. The selection of Arthur Benjamin's Etudes Improvisees and Scherzino, very engaging short pieces, was also excellent. He finished off with Scriabin's Sonata No.4, which began with less allure than expected, but got airborne in the Prestissimo volando for an unerring finish.

The attendances at the competition were very good
despite being in the early rounds.

Unfortunately, my journey with the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia (where else, Scotland?) ends here with an all too regrettable return “up above” to Singapore. At least I got to hear all 32 pianists, 50 minutes of each in total, some 15,100 minutes of piano playing and more if one considered the young Australian Showcase pianists, a veritable feast of music. My short capsule reviews were of the live performance as I heard them without recourse to viewing the archived videos later on.

The overall standard has been bewilderingly good, a vast improvement from the 2004 and 2008 competitions I attended (and 2012 which I followed on the Internet), when some pianists (including semi-finalists) could barely play themselves out of a paper bag. There will be a big number of excellent pianists who will be prematurely eliminated, and that will be because the cut is larger this time (from 32 to 12 this year, rather than 32 to 20, and 20 to 12 in previous editions). My guess is that several would have been cut just by a matter of a fraction of jury votes. It seems unfair, but that is the reality of competition. Suffice to say, there have been no duds, and the semi-finalists and finalists will all have been excellent and more.

So who gets to the semi-finals? My picks were as follows (in the order of playing):

RASHKOVSKIY

JURINIC

TARASEVICH-NIKOLAEV

LEBHARDT

XIE MING

GUGNIN

POOM PROMMACHART

DANIEL LE

SHEVCHENKO

YUI FUSHIKI

CHEN MOYE

KONG JIANING

Others to consider:

BROBERG

HA GYU TAE

MALMGREN

GOUGH

JEREMY SO

MELNIKOV

Here are the judges' picks for the 12 semi-finalists:

BROBERG

HA GYU TAE

TARASEVICH-NIKOLAEV

BELYAVSKIY

XIE MING

GUGNIN

MELNIKOV

POOM PROMMACHART

SHEVCHENKO

CHEN MOYE

KONG JIANING

TONY LEE 

May the best man (or one woman) win!

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2016 / Preliminary Round Two, Day Two

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO 

COMPETITION OF AUSTRALIA 2016

Preliminaries Round 2

Sunday 10 July 2016 (12.30 pm)

After the extraordinary musical antics of MARTIN MALMGREN (Sweden, 29 years) in the first round, he was compelled to offer more conventional programming for the second round. The short and atonal Jubilee No.1 by the Finn Magnus Lindberg (dedicated to Pierre Boulez), as if a leftover from two days ago, made for an atmospheric prelude to Chopin's Berceuse, which was very nicely done. His view to Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit sounded less sensual than Xie's from the night before, and there a a few slips in the elusive Ondine. Another rapt Le Gibet and rapturous Scarbo sealed a a fine performance overall. He will be back for more unusual repertoire in the semi-finals, one hopes. 

AYESHA GOUGH (Australia, 21 years) is another pianist with offbeat repertoire, and it proved again in the second round. The thunderous bass notes of the Verdi-Liszt Miserere (from Il Trovatore) made for a huge impression in this unusual transcription that is a refreshing change from the Rigoletto Paraphrase (not heard in this competition!) Her sensitivity for the quieter bits also served her well in Schubert's Grazer Fantasy, surely the antithesis of his Wanderer Fantasy. In multiple sections, its cantabile passages, landler country-dance sequence and quiet end in C major was more than well served. But is this a great work? Michael Kieran Harvey's Toccata DNA, where fists of fury were applied in its build-up, brought the recital to an exciting close.

PETER DE JAGER (Australia, 26 years) offered even more “extra-competition” repertoire, but I wished he had performed Lyapunov's Lesghinka (from the 12 Transcdendental Etudes) last. It was a truly virtuosic work in the same hallowed tradition as Balakirev's Islamey, excitingly performed, but one fears he had used up his quotient of audience engagement (and perhaps the jury's as well) so early in the day. What followed was Chris Dench's Tiento de medio registro alto, the impression of which was immediately forgotten, and Karol Szymanowski's slow-burning Third Sonata. The sensuous, intoxicating harmonies and insinuating themes were well brought out, while a complex fugue and orgiastic close completed the show. But has all this flown over the heads of his listeners? 

The big-hitting ROMAN LOPATYNSKI (Ukraine, 23 years) opened with Elena Kats-Chernin's Page Turn, a quasi-minimalist number with repeated triads, chords and myriad harmonic changes. The irony of  the title is that its dynamic machinations allow for no page turns, and is probably best memorised. What followed was Brahms' darkly coloured Intermezzo in E flat minor (Op.118 No.6), which unfolded with much pathos and that ultimate Russian showpiece, Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka. His was a take no prisoners approach, which now seems loud and almost crude. Without dropping notes (or at least very few among the multitudes), one still fears if he'll make it to the next round.    

Sunday 10 July 2016 (3.30 pm)

One of  the most interesting second round programmes came from ANDREY GUGNIN (Russia, 29 years), with the five works seemingly having little in common. Zaderatsky's Prelude & Fugue in D major and Michael Kieran Harvey's G Spot Tornado (Fugue for Frank [Zappa] No.6) are strange bed-fellows, but the juxtaposition worked. The former's perky little fugue contrasted with the frantic jazzy figurations of the latter. Ditto to the pairing of Sibelius' Impromptu (Op.5 No.5) and Ravel's Un barque sur l'ocean (Miroirs). Both are water pieces, one evoking a glacial stream and the other the might of the ocean. As if to show off virtuoso credentials, he finished with Balakirev's Islamey, if any a positive demonstration of how a recital should end!

The 20^th century journey of JEREMY SO (Australia, 25 years) continued with Roger Smalley's Chopin Variations, which opened with two loud Eroica-like chords and worked its way around the Mazurka in A minor (Op.30 No.4). There was a insane little waltz along that way by seemingly little more to hold the attention. Perhaps I should hear it again sometime. To complete the recital was Rachmaninov's Second Sonata, another impressive reading if possessing less dynamic contrasts as Rashkovskiy's. The mix of emotion and physical power worked well for a brawny and blustery close.

In the recital of ALEXEI MELNIKOV (Russia, 26 years), Peter Sculthorpe's Nocturne No.1 was the perfect calm before the storm. Its soft chords and beautifully evocative pages were the antithesis to Prokofiev's brutalist Sixth Sonata (the first of his War Trilogy), which roared with bare punched out chords and furious pounding. Fortunately, he has enough nous to vary his approach to the quirkily ironic Scherzo and the anguish of the third movement's slow waltz. It was pugilist central in the barnstorming finale, and even if there was a brief memory lapse near the end, it closed with percussive aplomb.

POOM PROMMACHART (Thailand, 26 years) is the dark horse of this competition, a late entry after Lukas Vondracek pulled out upon winning gold at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. His Australian contribution was Carl Vine's Toccatissimo, and got it spot on with its extremes in dynamics. There was never a need for banging here.

Perhaps the singular most complex work of the preliminaries was Nikolai Medtner's 25-minute long Sonata-Ballade Op.27 in three movements. It does not usually carry well in concert unless a special pianist takes it on. And Poom does the honours by clearly delineating its main themes and gorgeously filling in the developmental filigree. His spirit never flagged, even in the droll second movement (to be later rehashed in the famous Sonata Reminiscenza) and that fatal fugue of the third movement. The return of the first movement theme right at the end capped a most memorable outing But what would the Medtner specialists in the jury (Hamish Milne and Nikolai Demidenko) have thought. I think they would have been, like myself, thoroughly enthralled.

Sunday 10 July 2016 (7.30 pm)

PARK WOO-GIL (South Korea, 23 years) opened with Scriabin's Third Sonata, a declamatory entry qualified by rich sonority. There is a manic edge to the first two movements, which bubbled for most part under the surface, but emerging on occasion except in the most poetic of slow movements. In the tempestuous finale and its abrupt end, there was much fire in Park's performance, which continued in the umpteenth reading of Vine's Toccatissimo, fulminating and sparking in his hands all the way to its tumultuous conclusion.

LINDSAY GARRITSON (USA, 29 years) showed the two sides of Franz Liszt, first his Spanish Rhapsody with the requisite barnstorming in the La Folia and Jota Aragonesa, which was as exciting as it could possibly get barring a small lapse near the end. This was balanced by his tender transcription of Schubert's Standchen (from Schwanengesang) which was revealed in all its lyrical beauty. Still on the Hungarian page, to close was Bartok's percussive Sonata, rhythmically charged and often violent.  With a pentatonic feast of a finale, it got the tonic it needed in Garritson's performance, which also came across very well.  

DANIEL LE (Australia, 23 years) gave a very lucid and transparent account of the Vine Toccatissimo, very much in keeping with its title, to challenge its wide range of dynamics to the max. To continue on the same thread, Liszt's Transcendental Etude No.10 in F minor got an equally enthralling performance, but with a few missed notes. He completed his recital with Rachmaninov's Second Sonata, which got a very elegant performance (rather than the usual barnstorming one) for a change. The slow movement was taken leisurely but built up to a head of stream. The finale was thunderous but not note-perfect, but he should still receive more than a fair chance to proceed past the preliminaries.

OXANA SHEVCHENKO (Kazakhstan, 28 years) gave a very nuanced performance of Chopin's Polonaise-Fantasie Op.61, arresting in the opening and sometimes minces the notes to a fine puree such that one has to strain the ears to catch the narrative. Some might call it over-soft but she can raise the temperature when needed. That she did with Stravinsky's Three Movements from Petrushka despite hitting a bum note even before beginning. Her very balletic and blow-by blow incident-filled reading made for stark differences with Lopatynski's running roughshod the evening before. I far preferred her playing, naturally.  

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2016 / Preliminary Round Two, Day One

Piers Lane Goes To Town

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL PIANO 

COMPETITION OF AUSTRALIA 2016

Preliminaries Round Two, Daay One

Saturday 9 July 2016 (12.30 pm)

After hearing all 32 pianists in short 20-minute programmes (a sort of introductory “getting to know me” recitals), this competition has shown that there are no duds among the artists invited. At this early stage, the standard has already been shown to be far higher than previous editions of this competition in more advanced rounds. The second preliminary round features 30-minute recitals, where more substantial works are to be aired, thus deciding who the 12 semi-finalists will be.

LARRY WENG (USA, 28 years) has a better showing this time, with Ravel's Oiseaux Tristes (Miroirs) and its melancholic portrayal of sad birds in the afternoon coalescing with the impressionist hues in the beginning of Carl Vine's Bagatelle No.3. The ragtime dance of Bagatelle No.4 and the ensuing Threnody (Bagatelle No.5, a tender memory of AIDS victims) soon set the stage for a moving reading of Beethoven's Sonata in E major (Op.109). All three movements had much to recommend, including the wonderful final Theme and Variations. There was a small mistake towards the end, and that might prove costly in the final analysis.

ILYA RASHKOVSKIY (Russia, 31 years) gave a true masterclass of sound production in his no holds barred virtuoso showing. Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 is the most technically difficult of the 19 rhapsodies, but there was no hint of strain or frailty in Ilya's reading, which was very well nuanced in its slow and fast sections. Equally complete was his view of Rachmaninov's Second Sonata (Op.36, in the revised 1931 version), with drama, poetry and rhetoric all wrapped up in a thrilling encounter. Blessed with a big, generous sound with no harshness, and the fingers to match, Rashkovskiy who makes the most difficult scores appear like child's play, looks like the person to beat.

KENNETH BROBERG (USA, 22 years) has to be the most unlucky pianist, as midway through his splendid performance of Ravel's Jeux d'eau, a handphone carrying live-streaming (which has a lag of some eight seconds) of the recital blared out from within the audience, and another handphone signal going off as further insult to injury. Undeterred, he brought out some wonderfully limpid sounds before the one minute and some that was Carl Vine's Threnody (Bagatelle No.5), which has to be the shortest Australian contribution by any pianist. The balance of time was reserved for Samuel Barber's Sonata Op.26, which had a masterly performance equal to some of the best on record. The final coruscating fugue, described by Horowitz as a “virtuoso's paradise”, was unerring in its delivery.    

ALYOSA JURINIC (Croatia, 27 years) opened with Roy Agnew's Poem No.1 (1922), a short nocturne-like piece with some lovely, perfumed harmonies. His big work was Chopin's Third Sonata in B minor (Op.58), a performance that was both passionate and poetic, as if portending some kind of tragedy, but not technically flawless. There were a few slips in the first and final movements, but these were not calamitous (for the listener) by any account. Despite a strong and commanding finish, would these count against his progressing further?

Saturday 9 July (3.30 pm)

DAVID HUH JAE-WEON (South Korea, 29 years) chose to play Messiaen's L'alouette calandrelle from Catalogue d'Oiseaux, which was always an interesting gambit. One of its shorter movements, the warbling in the high registers, with echoes from the surrounding geography and sunshine, created a haunting impression of birdsong. As competitions like this go, there would be another reading of Chopin's Third Sonata in quick succession. His was a considerably lighter and less doom-laden view than Jurinic's, but also a cleaner one as well. Would that be good enough for this over-familiar and all-too often played warhorse?

RACHEL CHEUNG (Hong Kong, 24 years) continued the good impressions she made in the earlier round with Beethoven's Sonata in E minor (Op.90), its declamatory opening well-contrasted with the Schubertian song-like second movement which confirms her undoubted musicianship. In the Morceau de Concours by the late UK-born Australian Roger Smalley (himself a fine pianist), written for the 2008 competition, she let rip fearlessly as one would expect of an etude-like number. Unfortunately, both movements of Scriabin's Sonata-Fantasie No.2 would be her undoing, with memory lapses that will be detrimental to her making the semi-finals.   

The competition's youngest pianist HA GYU-TAE (South Korea, 19 years) also performed Beethoven's Sonata Op.90. His was a more sharply etched and delineated reading, slightly less poetic than Cheung's, but when it came to the melting lyricism of the finale, he brought it out with equally heartfelt emotion. The longer work was Australian Carl Vine's First Sonata (1990), now the most performed of late 20^th century sonatas (if these things do exist). His heady mix of hard-edged tonality, rhythmic vitality and thrilling piano calisthenics, all winningly brought out by Ha, made for gripping listening and viewing. This youngster has it all in his hands.

ARSENY TARASEVICH-NIKOLAEV (Russia, 23 years) is the other Russian who stands out. In Peter Sculthorpe's short and reflective Evocation, albeit with some blues chords, he was painting an antipodean portrait of Debussy's Girl with the Flaxen Hair which followed quite logically. This innocence then turned mischievous and later malignant as Debussy's Puck's Dance led into Ravel's Scarbo (Gaspard de la nuit). It was a marvellous and dramatic performance, with the pianist's near-epileptic bodily jerks during the climactic chords. The programme was completed with three of Rachmaninov's Moments Musicaux Op.16, alternating fast and slow pieces through Nos.2 to 4. A strong candidate for best recital of the Second Round. 

Saturday 9 July (7.30 pm)

RACHEL NAOMI KUDO (USA, 29 years) presented an all 20^th century programme beginning with Copland's Scherzo Humoristique, better known as The Cat and the Mouse. Lots of scampering runs, leaps and pauses in this cute little diversion, but there was nothing gimmicky in the playing and the first three Etudes by Debussy that followed. These had deftness of touch and plenty of colour. She would be the second pianist of the day to survey Vine's First Sonata, a coruscating reading that had little to separate from Ha's earlier performance. One has to ask how a slender young lady like Kudo could muster the power and heft needed for this work. Corny phrase of the day: All kudos to her. 

If anything can be said about SERGEY BELYAVSKIY (Russia, 22 years), he's a hard-hitter. But first he had to show a more elegant side in Debussy's La plus que lent, a “slower than slow waltz” from the belle epoque. Two more waltzes followed in Rachmaninov's transcriptions of Liebesfreud and Liebeslied, which was getting to be somewhat cloying in his well-turned accounts. Then he unleashed the full monty for Liszt's Reminiscences de Don Juan, a more hair-raising performance than the day before, but with not much room for subtlety. Banging seems to be the catch-word here, not the best thing for one's blood pressure.

DANIEL LEBHARDT (Hungary, 24 years) continues to surprise, not least in Beethoven's Sonata in G major (Op.31 No.1) which comes off with much humour (1^st movement), drawing room grace with the pizzicato simulations (2^nd movement) and bucolic charm (3^rd movement). One of Beethoven's more underrated sonatas (which is overshadowed by its companions, the Tempest and Hunt), one suspects never to hear this piece the same way again. The intimate sound of Ravel's Jeux d'eau, expanding with ever-widening arcs soon filled the hall, and the bells from Rachmaninov's Etude-tableau in E flat major (Op.33 No.7) engulfed it thereafter. Another very satisfying recital that promises much to come.

XIE MING (China, 22 years) probably has the most refined and luscious piano sound of the 32, whether on a Fazioli or the Shigeru Kawai of this session. Is there a more sensuous performance than his reading of Percy Grainger's Ramble on Love from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier? The delicate melody and sumptuous harmonies were only equalled by his velvety touch and svelte pedalling. This could only spell more of the same for Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, where Ondine occupies a similar swimmy atmosphere. Le Gibet, with its repeated tolling in B flat, came on like a trance, and Xie's Scarbo proved to be an even more manic denizen of the forest than Arseny's. A journey from sacred to profane from this exciting talent.